Final Stuff!

I have done both of the surveys and checked my grades.

Internet Safety

1:An Ensign to the Nations: A light to the world by President Gordon B. Hinckley

2: I watched a video by David A. Bednar. He spoke about the dangers of involving our lives too much in the virtual world. I really enjoyed his talk because it is so relevant to life today and the dangers that are so evident in all types of media. He also spoke about downloading music and involving ourselves in illegal activities on the internet.

3:Take-aways: My most important take-aways from the readings were the overall impact that media, music, and addiction to just the internet has on the family. I know that my grandmother spends all day on the computer, part of the time doing family history, but I’ll say she has very nice, large farm that she cares for on her Facebook. I know she spends a lot of time doing that. Many in my family have become addicted to some of the games Facebook has to offer and they are always telling me about it. Once my mom made me get off my Facebook so she could take care of my farm, I didn’t even know that I had! Those are just a few examples, but the family is so important and I didn’t realize how significant the effect of the internet has. I know that the many sources of media in our life can distract us from what is most important, simply because of how time consuming it is. When you are away from your family like many college students are, they don’t realize these effects until they visit home, or get married. It is important now to monitor our involvement on the internet and with video games.

4:My source already was aware of many online challenges that students, parents, and educators struggle with today. He spoke about prevention techniques to keep kids safe including keeping the family computer in a public place readily visible to all who are around. He is also an advocate for having filtering on the home and school computers to keep kids off internet sites that could be potentially dangerous to them. He also told me how he feels that media of all kinds today including i-pods, cellphones, facebook, and other networking sites really are creating a community where people are always connected and communicating, without really communicating personally. Our resources today make staying connected easier, but the price we pay is losing out on those important person to person interactions.
I told him about some of the stories that I listened to and read about, his reaction was about like mine. We both know of the realities, but try to block them out. When hearing these stories it brings the reality back and we feel sorry for those individuals and their lack of knowledge to keep themselves safe. He expressed a great interest in making sure all who use the internet are taught how to protect themselves from dangers that exsist. He will definitely use it to educate his future family and also the students that he will influence in his secondary education classes.

TPACK Project

Lesson Plans

Literacy Lesson: http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddzwjpj3_6gp9j9s7x
I implemented the Literacy Lesson, pictures above!
Science Lesson: http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddzwjpj3_2dpjdnzdr
I implemented the Science Lesson as well but didn't take pictures. It went well though and was fun.
Math Lesson: http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddzwjpj3_3fd834kfs

Use of Techonology in the classroom

There were many things I found interesting in the videos. In the third video I found it particularly interesting how much the children used the internet to find information for their research. I really liked this because when I was younger the internet was not something we incorporated into our learning in elementary. Given this opportunity the children gain a better knowledge of how computers impact daily lives and the community. I really liked how after they had spent all that time researching their effort was validated when their parents came to watch their presentations. Their presentations are a great representation of their work in a creative way and encourages future learning. This connects what is going on in the classroom to the community. Also with this in the second video it was mentioned that through having the children illustrate their ideas on the computer and making books they are able to involve the parents when it otherwise couldn't be done. Everything we do is on the computer and incorporates the internet nowadays and it is so great that the children have to opportunity to learn this concept so early on. The internet connects the world and they get to learn that.

Technology Inventory

I have spent my last week at Old Mill Elementary School in Heber, Ut. It has been a wonderful experience. I have noticed that in the classroom there are not many technology enhancing tools. In my classroom there is only one lap top for the teachers use. There is a projector that connects to the computer I believe, we haven't used it yet. There is also a image projector that the teacher uses for fix-it sentences in the morning. There is a lab available to all teachers to sign up for. We have used the lab for further reinforced learning in math and literacy. The children can log onto this school website from home if they wish too. The teacher used her CD player everyday to sing songs about the days of the week. There is not too much available in the classroom, but I feel that the use of technology has a good balance.
I have completed the midcourse evaluation and the informed consent!

Week 8 Science Video Thread